National briefs

Published 6:30 am, Wednesday, February 4, 2004

Blake's defense can't point to Brando's son

LOS ANGELES -- In a blow to the defense, the judge in actor Robert Blake's murder case on Tuesday ruled that jurors should not hear testimony suggesting that actor Marlon Brando's son might have killed Bonny Lee Bakley. Christian Brando might have had a motive to kill his former lover but he lacked the opportunity to do so, said Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Darlene Schempp, who was ruling on pretrial motions. Authorities said he was at home in Washington state the night she was fatally shot. The ruling knocks out a major part of Blake's defense strategy.

Bush asks for proposal to protect food supply

WASHINGTON -- President Bush is ordering three Cabinet departments and the Environmental Protection Agency to develop new procedures to protect the food supply from terror attack. The directive calls for the departments of Agriculture, Health and Human Services and Homeland Security to create systems to contain outbreaks of plant or animal disease from terror attack. The president ordered the agencies to plan ways to stabilize the food supply and economy after an attack.

Parishioners file suit over rewritten charter

NEW YORK -- Escalating a church power struggle, prominent Greek Orthodox parishioners filed suit Tuesday asking the New York State Supreme Court to require that the 1.5 million-member, nationwide Greek archdiocese obey its own governing charter. Thirty-five plaintiffs from 17 states joined the lawsuit, which says the Greek hierarchy imposed a rewritten charter last year without approval from delegates at a national Clergy-Laity Congress, as required. The suit says the action violated the old charter from 1978.

Guards trumped up reports on Geoghan

BOSTON -- Prison guards harassed pedophile priest John Geoghan and wrote trumped-up disciplinary reports that landed the former clergyman in the dangerous-inmate unit where he was strangled and beaten by a fellow prisoner, a report released Tuesday found. Investigators said a series of "overzealous and unwarranted" reports by guards led to Geoghan being classified as one of the state's most dangerous prisoners and sent to the high-security unit at the Souza-Baranowski Correctional Center.

Firm hired to protect N.Y. area is indicted

NEWARK, N.J. -- A security company with contracts to protect New York-area airports, bridges and tunnels has been charged with paying bribes to get work and hiring dozens of employees with criminal records. Haynes Security Inc. and its president, John D'Agostino, were charged with theft, bribery and conspiracy in an indictment announced Tuesday. Among the allegations: Haynes paid more than $1,000 in August 2001 for repairs at the home of a Continental Airlines manager for consideration for a contract at the Newark airport. No charges were brought against any employees of Houston-based Continental.